Christ's Stewards Fellowship

Saturday after the retreat, Brian and I went to Batangas City with Pastor Celso Namuco and his wife Hanny. Celso is the pastor of Christ's Stewards Fellowship which is a small, but growing church plant. Saturday night we met with some of their worship team before heading to Hanny's parents' home. We stayed with her parents and younger brother, Joshua, for the five nights we spent in Batangas City. They were very hospitable people.

Sunday morning before the service, Brian and I both shared our testimonies during the service. In the afternoon, Brian led the Bible study for the junior church (middle school-aged kids). Sunday night CSF held a Youth Jam, where teenagers were invited in to play with the band and I shared the gospel with them.

Monday morning we went with Celso to a United Elders of Batangas City meeting. Every month the pastors and elders along with some church members from all denominations get together for fellowship. We were able to meet pastors from a few other churches and share what we are doing here in the Philippines. In the afternoon we went to a local Catholic school to share the gospel with a couple of high school classes. In the class that I was in all 17 of the kids prayed to receive Christ. Please pray for them because they all come from Catholic homes and appear to have no idea how to pray from their hearts. Monday night, CSF held a Musicians On Fire (MOF) event in Lemery. They invite any and all bands to come and play two or three songs and share the gospel and testimonies in between. They give complete freedom to the bands to play whatever they want. About eight bands showed up to play and there were between 75 and 100 people there in all. I shared my testimony and Brian shared the gospel. Then Pastor Celso invited anyone that wanted to to pray with him. About 15 people raised their hands to indicate that they had prayed with Celso and committed their lives to Christ. It was amazing to see what God did as neither Brian or I expected anything like that.

Tuesday Brian and I went and made some home visits with Pastor Celso. After dinner we played basketball with some of the youth and some workers from the bakery that Hanny's parents own. We were also able to share the gospel with them.

On Wednesday nights CSF has another worship service. It is a lot like their Sunday morning service, but there are some people that come that are gone on the weekends. We both were able to thank them for their hospitality and share some of what we learned there. Pastor Nelson Dangan was also there for the service.

This weekend Brian and I will split up and go to different ABP homes. Brian will go to ABP 3 in Molino and help out with the younger boys. I will go with Josh to ABP 2 in San Pedro and help with the older boys.